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US District Judge John D. Bates has ordered (PDF) the Center for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration to restore the web pages and resources they had previously removed to comply with President Trump's executive order related to gender ideology. Bates gave the agencies until February 11, 11:59 PM Eastern time, to comply. As of this writing, the CDC website on "Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons" is already back online with a note up top that says the CDC's website "is being modified to comply with President Trump's Executive Orders." The judge's decision is part of a temporary restraining order that he has granted as requested by the Doctors for America. Represented by Public Citizen, the non-profit organization sued the CDC (PDF), the FDA and the Department of Health in February. It also sued the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which issued the memo for the pages' removal. As The Washington Post notes, the memo ordered agency heads to "end all agency programs that use taxpayer money to promote or reflect gender ideology." In response, the CDC and FDA removed a number of web pages covering a wide variety of topics. In its lawsuit, Doctors for America said the pages that were removed provided healthcare workers with treatment guidance and important datasets necessary for research and for formulating appropriate public health responses. The pages contained resources for HIV monitoring, contraception, assisted reproductive technologies like IVF, health risks for youths, social vulnerability and environmental justice. In addition, the organization pointed out that the agency didn't provide any notice before removing those pages. The non-profit organization gave some specific examples in its lawsuit. Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, who has a research program at Yale School of Medicine, said that the CDC's removal of its resources about contraceptives and STIs caused delays in her "patients' access to appropriate contraception." Meanwhile, a Dr. Stephanie Liou said the the pages' removal impeded her ability to formulate a quick and appropriate response to a chlamydia outbreak in her high school, as her employers didn't have access to "many expensive clinical resources." Doctors of America accused the CDC and the FDA of violating the Paperwork Reduction Act that requires officials to "ensure that the public has timely and equitable access to the agencys public information." In addition to bringing back the pages that were removed, the agencies were also ordered to restore any resources that were modified to their original state by February 14. The resources that were brought back online will remain available while the non-profit org's lawsuit is ongoing. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/court-orders-the-cdc-and-fda-to-restore-deleted-web-pages-related-to-gender-identity-133008251.html?src=rss
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Located less than a mile from the Joshua Tree Visitor Center, Rivian's new charging station goes well beyond basic infrastructure. While drivers wait for their vehicles to charge, they can lounge in hammocks, let their children explore a climbing wall, or stroll around an outdoor museum to learn about the local desert landscape. The site also includes a zero-waste food initiative and a gear repair station, aligning with the outdoor lifestyle Rivian champions. Unlike its other fast-charging sites, the Joshua Tree Charging Outpost is Rivian's first to be compatible with other EV brands, too, with connectors available for vehicles using the North American Charging Standard. While charging and complimentary coffee are available to all, Rivian drivers are entitled to extra perks. For example, restrooms are open to the public from 7 am7 pm, but Rivian owners get after-hours access with a code found in the brand's app.The strategic placement near national parks earlier in 2024, Rivian opened an outpost in Yosemite makes sense. This isn't just about serving Rivian's own adventure-seeking customer base. Memorable charging stations are fast becoming an essential investment for electric vehicle manufacturers as competition in the market heats up. After all, charging time is a prime opportunity to showcase your brand and its values to a broader audience of EV drivers, including those eager to shift away from other, less purpose-driven makers ;-)
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$449 is a lot to pay for earbuds. When you consider the quality of the options at $100 and below, it may seem exorbitant. However, Noble Audio hasnt just crafted another set of high-end wireless earbuds. The company is offering something unique on the FoKus Rex5: five drivers. Most earbuds have one or two, but Noble has put its in-ear monitor (IEM) expertise to work here, packing in a 10mm dynamic driver, a 6mm planar driver and three balanced armature drivers. The result is absolutely incredible sound quality for a set of wireless earbuds. A wide, immersive soundstage surpasses every other set Ive tested, and Ive tested a lot of them. However, audio performance alone doesnt make a complete product. Theres still battery life, active noise cancellation (ANC), customization and other features for Noble to contend with. And the company needs to check all the boxes to justify that price. Design of the FoKus Rex5 The FoKus Rex5 earbuds are very green. From the charging case to the aluminum and acrylic housing, the company is dedicated to that hue on this model. Its gold accents wont be for everyone either. The styling is akin to a set of IEMs, which Noble also makes in spades. If youre looking for other colors from the company, the pricier FoKus Prestige ($599) will be available in black and blue when theyre back in stock. Other than the color scheme and marbled acrylic shell, the FoKus Rex5 looks like standard earbuds at least in terms of its shape. The rounded, triangular frame mimics a set of generic in-ear monitors and it fits well in the ear. Weight is nicely balanced too, with nothing sticking too far out from your head. This all leads to a secure, comfy fit that never becomes a burden, even after hours of constant use. Additionally, Noble includes nine sets of extra ear tips across three shapes in the box. One of those is foam instead of silicone, if youre into that, and the diversity of the pack should help you find an ideal fit for your ears. Software and features All of the settings and features for the FoKus Rex5 reside in the Noble FoKus app. Here youll find battery percentages for each earbud, quick access to the personalized EQ, media controls and noise-cancellation toggles up front. On the right side, an expandable menu offers a 10-band EQ, EQ curve, personalized EQ and touch control settings. Noble opted for Audiodos customizable sound software to power its Personal EQ feature. Like some of the competition, this tech takes you through a setup process to calibrate the audio to your hearing. The FoKus Rex5 has a Qualcomm QCC3091 chip inside that stores these custom profiles on the earbuds. This means that the audio tweaks stay with you on any device you pair to without having to download the app multiple times. Noble says Personal EQ works well for people with uneven hearing, offering balanced sound at the appropriate levels. For me, the test determined that I needed a boost in the high frequency range, which raised the volume for vocals and guitars. I dont love it. The stock tuning is a better blend of all the instruments and I prefer the balance of that mix. This doesnt mean the feature wont help you, it just means that you might want to keep the default settings rather than opt for Personal EQ. The FoKus Rex5 is equipped with multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, which adds convenience to daily use. The earbuds seamlessly switched between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone whenever I got a call or started playing audio there. What you wont find on the Rex5 is automatic pausing as the earbuds dont have a proximity or wear sensor on the back side. Perhaps the company needed every millimeter for all of those drivers, but this is a handy feature that would have been great to have. FoKus Rex5 sound quality Billy Steele for Engadget Its amazing how much nuance five drivers will allow you to hear when listening to music. Noble says its driver array effortlessly delivers rich, full bass, detailed mid-tones and crystal-clear highs, and I found that to be true across a range of genres. Where most earbuds have a frequency range of 20Hz-20kHz, which is in line with the capabilities of the human ear, the FoKus Rex5 extends that a bit to 20Hz-40kHz. Am I confident that I can hear that extra high frequency? No. Does that impact my rating of the sound quality? Not at all. Im well aware that artists, producers and recording engineers make the decisions on how to split instruments on the left and right channels. But for the first time, I could clearly hear the separation in the guitars on songs like L.S. Dunes I Can See It Now and across the entirety of Jason Isbell and the 400 Units latest live album. Theres a sonic division on these earbuds thats more segmented, yet everything still blends well for a great immersive sensation. Its like youre standing in the middle of the studio. You can hear that the lead guitar is situated to the right while the rhythm player is on the left. A lot of earbuds would smash them together. Theres also minute detail in guitars, drums, vocals and more with the FoKus Rex5. You can hear the texture in the vocals on Julien Baker & TORRES Sugar in the Tank, and it sounds like youre almost inside the acoustic guitar on that track. There are a number of flagship-quality earbuds that deliver fine details well, but Ive never heard the level of subtlety that the FoKus Rex5 provides song after song. And the earbuds do so with a robust soundstage that, once again, envelops you like youre standing in the middle of a performance rather than simply streaming tunes. Noble offers support for aptX Adaptive and Sonys LDAC codecs on the FoKus Rex5, in addition to SBC and AAC. I tested primarily with Apple Music, including a lot of albums in either lossless or Dolby Atmos. All of the songs from the service sounded incredible with these earbuds, although the crunchy, layered guitars on that L.S. Dunes record sounded particularly stunning (that album is Dolby Atmos, Lossless and Apple Digital Master). ANC performance Billy Steele for Engadget Noble doesnt go into too much detail about the ANC setup on the FoKus Rex5, other than saying the sophisticated tech effectively minimizes external noise. Unfortunately, that effectiveness is just averae. The earbuds only dampen constant noise sources like fans and noise machines. And while they slightly lower the volume of human voices nearby, they suffer the same inefficacy as much of the competition there. Simply put, youre not buying the FoKus Rex5 for the ANC performance, its the sound quality thats the primary draw. But Id argue you should have both if youre spending $449. Call quality on the FoKus Rex5 Call quality is another area Noble could improve. The FoKus Rex5 is usable for calls, but the audio performance is average at best. If youre looking for something to use for virtual meetings, or any situation where you need to sound crystal clear, these earbuds arent a great option. Whats more, the ambient mode doesnt beam your voice back through the buds on calls. I kept feeling like I was shouting just to hear myself during those chats. Battery life Noble promises up to five hours of listening time with ANC on, or up to seven hours without. Whats more, the company packed an extra 35-40 hours of use in the wireless charging case, which is longer than most of the competition can muster. Theres a 15-minute quick charge feature that will give you two hours of use as well. During my tests, the FoKus Rex5 easily met the stated figures, and even went beyond them by about 30 minutes. Five hours of noise-canceling use is standard these days, but its nice to see that Noble delivered on this, even with the additional drivers and codec support. The competition In terms of sound quality, only Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 comes close to the pristine audio performance of the FoKus Rex5. Unfortunately, those earbuds dont offer a complete package either. And at $399, theyre still a bigger investment compared to the likes of Bose, Sony and Sennheiser. Youll get excellent sound on the Pi8, though the level of detail and separation isnt on the level of the five-driver Rex5. ANC performance is slightly better, but still not robust, and theres a lack of advanced features that are offered by much of the competition on products that cost less. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/noble-fokus-rex5-review-incredible-sound-if-youre-willing-to-pay-for-it-130043824.html?src=rss
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